Fighting Love
by Kqurota Hestaine
Summary: Ikkaku and Tatsuki, who saw it coming? Matsumoto did.
1. Meeting

Hey, everybody, I'm back! (with a new story even).

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach. I wish I did though.

Key:

_Flashback_

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

><p><strong>Fighting Love<strong>

Meeting

It was a bright sunny morning with the birds chirping happily in the trees, and that just pissed Ikkaku off. Ikkaku had a ferocious hangover and just wished that the stupid birds would shut up, but of course they didn't, because since when did nature ever listen to what he had to say, or what anyone else had to say, judging by the groans of pain from the room next door.

Ikkaku grunted in frustration and got out of bed. 'Friggi'n Ichigo, how the heck does he have that much tolerance?' These thoughts were prompted by the fact that the whole reason he had a hangover was because Ichigo had drunk the whole 11th Division, including Kenpachi, under the table the night before. Groaning in frustration and pain, Ikkaku got dressed and stumbled out of his room in time to run into Ichigo, a wide awake and disgustingly cheerful Ichigo.

"Hey Ikkaku, finally got up eh? Its noon already so you missed breakfast, it was really good."

"Ichigo, if you don't shut up I'm going to kill you."

"Really, what about the last 500 or so times you've tried and failed?"

Ikkaku's left eye began to twitch; seeing that, Ichigo's smile got wider, 'I love poking fun at Ikkaku when he wakes up with a hangover.'

Ikkaku glared at Ichigo and stormed away wincing every time his feet thumped too hard on the floor making his head pound. Behind him Ichigo gave up the battle and started laughing, 'Yeah, yeah, yuck it up bastard, I'll get you one of these days.' Ichigo, oblivious to Ikkaku's angry thoughts, just kept laughing.

* * *

><p>Tatsuki yelped when something heavy landed on her, waking her. Opening her eyes, she saw that it was morning and what had landed on her was none other than her best friend Inoe Orihime. She groaned and laid her head back. Orihime giggled saying, "Nope, nope, you can't do that, you gotta get up!"<p>

Tatsuki groaned, "Why Orihime, not only is it Sunday, it's also summer break."

"You promised me you would go out shopping with me today. Aaaannnd," Orihime paused drawing out the word dramatically, "Mastumoto-san said that she would be shopping with us today!"

Tatsuki grimaced, 'I did agree to go shopping with Orihime, but Mastumoto-san? She is worse than Orihime when she is shopping, not only that, she likes the exact same foods Orihime does!' Tatsuki sighed, "If I'm going to get up you'll need to get off me."

"Okay!"

Hopping off Tatsuki, Orihime announced that she would be waiting in the dining room as Tatsuki's mom was making breakfast. Sighing Tatsuki nodded, "I'll be right down once I get dressed."

Looking at her clothes Tatsuki thought, 'I'll need to dress a little better than I usually do so that Mastumoto-san doesn't decide that I need a new wardrobe._'_

* * *

><p>The knock on his door the next morning surprised Ikkaku, what flew onto his chest knocking him through the floor did not. Squealing in joy, Yachiru told him all about haw Mastumoto-san was going to the real world for a mission and was going to the mall that same day. Since Yachiru wanted to go to the mall as well, Mastumoto invited Yachiru along saying that she had to bring one of the members of 11th Division with her, just in case.<p>

"Guess what," Yachiru squealed after that deluge of information.

Ikkaku groaned, "What?"

"Mastumoto-san is going with Jiggly and Jiggily's friend! And I've picked you to go with me to the real world!"

"Why?"

"Because Yumichika doesn't like Jiggly's friend and the Sotaicho has locked Kenny in his office with Braids to keep him there so he will do all of his paperwork. And Maki-Maki hid under the couch and won't come out saying that he wouldn't be of much use anyway, so that leaves you. Oh! And Ichi's going to be coming to the real world with us as well saying that he needs to finish his homework and get a few things done for his dad at his house before he can come for the rest of summer break and let Flower-Taicho and Whitey-Taicho molest him. What is summer break?"

"Ikkaku groaned and thumped his head on the floor, "Let me get up Fukutaicho and I'll tell you."

Yachiru yipped with joy and leapt off him. Standing Ikkaku started to dress, telling Yachiru what a "summer break" was, and thinking 'This will be wonderful, the stupid ditz girl, Mastumoto, Ichigo, and whoever the ditz girl's friend is._'_

* * *

><p>After finishing breakfast Tatsuki asked Orihime, "Where are we going shopping?"<p>

"The mall!" was the cheerful reply. Tatsuki sighed, 'I should have known, whenever Matsumoto-san is involved, we go to the mall.'

Walking up to the mall entrance Tatsuki saw Matsumoto-san and a few others that she had not been expecting. There was Matsumoto-san, standing in what seemed to be the middle of the group, standing to her right and looking as if he had been dragged there was Ichigo, on Matsumoto's left was a pink haired blur that stopped long enough for Tatsuki to identify that it was indeed a person, the final person was standing slightly behind Matsumoto. He caught Tatsuki attention, he was bald but seemed proud of it, and he had red marks around each eye, kind of like an accent.

Tatsuki looked over the group again and snorted, 'Ichigo was probably dragged here by Matsumoto-san and the pink haired person, who I think is that Yachiru-chan that Orihime told me about. I have no idea who the other person is though, looking at Ichigo I think they know each other.' About this point Ichigo and the strange man were arguing and the pink-haired blur was egging them on while Mastumoto-san was trying to break it up.

Tatsuki leaned towards Orihime and asked, "Who are the two new people?"

Orihime smiled and giggled, "The small one is Yachiru-chan," '_Got that one right._' "And the bald one is Ikkaku-san."

Suddenly a shout came from the group Tatsuki and Orihime were approaching. The squealing pink blur named Yachiru had spotted them, let out a shout and launched towards them. Tatsuki immediately took a defensive stance and fended off Yachiru when she reached them sending her flying towards Matsumoto who caught her.

Reaching the group Tatsuki got a closer look at the two new comers. The one was definitely a fighter a sword fighter if the sheathed sword slung over his shoulders was any indication. His outfit looked like it had been selected from Ichigo's spares as they did not fit quite right, especially around the shoulders.

Turning her attention to the squealing pink-haired ball of energy, aka Yachiru, she noticed that Yachiru was indeed a girl, and dressed just as insanely as her personality suggested. The girl wore a black and red plaid skirt with a green shirt covered by a black leather jacket, the whole outfit clashed with Yachiru's outrageously pink hair. '_Talk about bad color coordination._'

Once Yachiru had calmed down, Matsumoto announced, "It's time to go shopping!"

* * *

><p>Ikkaku groaned, rubbing his feet as he sat on a bench in the mall's food court. Talk about an insane day. Woken up by Yachiru, taken to the real world by Yachiru and Matsumoto, dragging Ichigo to the mall against his will, meeting up with Orihime and her friend, and spending the whole morning wandering around the mall shopping. While Ikkaku did get a few new outfits because of it, it was still irritating; though he had been surprised at Orihime's friend, Tatsuki. He had been expecting someone ditzy or over-bearing like Mastumoto or Orihime. However, Ikkaku was glad it was not so. Tatsuki was much smaller in the breasts than either Matsumoto or Orihime, thank god, and was well muscled. She wore a nice plain white shirt with a short black skirt. She had short black hair and didn't wear any jewelry.<p>

He could tell that she had been assessing him just as thoroughly as he had been assessing her. He noticed she also assessed Yachiru which meant that she hadn't met Yachiru either.

"You mind if I sit here?"

Looking up Ikkaku saw the questioner, Orihime's friend Tatsuki. Ikkaku grunted an affirmative and scooted over so that she could sit down.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Ikkaku broke the silence, unable to stifle his curiosity, "How did you, a normal person, become friends with Orihime?"

Tatsuki bristled slightly, then relaxed and smiled, "We met in middle school. She was being bullied by some third and second years with several of her own first year classmates looking on. She was in tears and it pissed me off, twelve against one and that one being a girl that was already heartbroken at the death of her brother just two days before. I learned about her brother's death about three weeks later, but that didn't change the situation. I stepped in and stopped the bullies," at this Tatsuki grinned maniacally and laughed, "all I had to do was crack my knuckles and they went running like the hounds of hell were after them," Tatsuki face softened as she continued, "Orihime asked me why I had done that, and didn't I know that since I did that that they would bully me too? I told her not to worry about it, I could handle them. I told her that she should come to my house after school and eat. I told her my mom made the best beef stew," Tatsuki smiled sadly; "She said she would think about it and would let me know after school. Right after the bell rang I went to her classroom and saw the bullies from earlier. I got sooo pissed off. I literally dragged them outside and gave them a pounding. After I was done I went back in and saw Orihime standing exactly where she had been when I drug the bullies out. I smiled and grabbed her hand saying, 'Come, my mom would love to meet you, I called her during lunch and she said that you were welcome to come over, well, she actually more or less insisted that you come over.' Orihime started getting brighter after that, she was so much happier, it made me happy to see that," Tatsuki was smiling as she finished reminiscing.

"But why would you just step in like that if you didn't even know the person?" Ikkaku inquired.

"I guess I had already picked up some of Ichigo's giving spirit by then."

"Ichigo? You know Ichigo, and you knew him before you met Orihime. How long have you known him and how did you meet him? And WHY?"

Tatsuki laughed at his tone, "I've known him since we were four. I met him when he started come to the dojo I went to. He was such a weakling," Tatsuki grinned and smacked her fist into her palm, "One punch to the upper body and he was down. I was the first one to make him cry," Ikkaku grinned at that, Tatsuki continued a sad half-hearted smile on her face, "He was a mamma's boy. When him mother came to pick him up he would stop crying and a huge smile would form on his face. I thought he was so stupid," Tatsuki face took on a sad cast, "When we were nine his mother died, something happened by the riverbank, I heard later that there was a lot of blood. Apparently, his mother had died protecting him from something, I don't know what. For a whole week after his mom died, Ichigo didn't come to school. I spotted him walking along the riverbank as if searching for his mom, when he got tired he would squat down and rest for a minute, then he would stand up and keep walking, it was the saddest thing I have ever seen," tears were running down Tatsuki's cheeks, as she tried for a smile, "I went to his dad and told him where Ichigo was. Ichigo's dad looked frantic with worry, taking off with only a quick thank you. After that Ichigo has never smiled, or really shown any kind of positive emotion," Tatsuki ended her memory recital with a small half-hearted smile.

Ikkaku sighed, "Do you have any happy memories of Ichigo?"

"No, not really; they all have the same bitter aftertaste of pain and grief. Ichigo still carries it around."

"He really needs to lighten up."

"You have no idea."

Ikkaku snorted, "I can believe that."

Tatsuki grinned, "So, I told you ridiculous amounts of information about me, Orihime, and Ichigo, it's time for you to talk about yourself."

Ikkaku just looked at her sourly, making Tatsuki laugh.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Tatsuki finally broached the question that she had wanted to ask, "You're a Shinigami aren't you?"

Ikkaku looked at her startled, Tatsuki quirked a half-smile, "Don't look at me like that. No, Ichigo hasn't told me anything, but I not blind, nor am I deaf. I've seen and heard quite a bit of what's been going on. I have had to do a bit of eves dropping and puzzling to put all the pieces together, but I've figured it out. You guys had a war recently, over winter break in fact. Am I right?"

Ikkaku sighed, this girl was both smart and observant, and she had enough riatsu to be able to see them in spirit form, "Yes you are correct," came the grudging reply," I am a shinigami, and yes we did have a war very recently. We are still recovering from it in Soul Society; I suppose you know about Soul Society as well."

"I do."

"Well, we'll still be recovery for some time, that's part of why everything is so loose and the Fukutaicho and I were able to come here even though we're not on a mission."

"Sounds interesting, but it also explains why Ichigo has been even quieter since the end of winter break, it put some scars on him and I'm sure he saw at least a few more people die."

"He did, but we were lucky and lost only two or three people, luckily we didn't lose any Taichos. Unfortunately we lost a couple third seats and a Fukutaicho."

"I'm sorry for your losses."

"I am too, but it's all said and done, it's in the past and we need to get over it and get past it and move forward, but we must never forget it."

Tatsuki nodded, "And that is how it should be."

They spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, sometimes sitting in silence, and sometimes talking. They didn't talk about just one thing, but many different things, learning more about each other as the afternoon wore on.

* * *

><p>Back at home Tatsuki thought about Ikkaku and how he seemed so hard on the outside, but was really an understanding person on the inside. She grinned as she remembered how they parted.<p>

_When the others had finished their shopping (well when Mastumoto had finished her shopping) they had come up to the food court to get a bite to eat and pick up Ikkaku and Tatsuki. Looking at them Matsumoto had to hide a deviously joyful smile, her plan had worked. Leaving the mall the group parted ways, Tatsuki and Ichigo going to their homes (they live in the same block), Orihime and Matsumoto to Orihime's apartment (Matsumoto had yet to complete her mission after all), and Ikkaku and Yachiru to Urahara's shop. On a whim Tatsuki called after Ikkaku, "Let's have a match some time. I bet I can kick your ass!"_

_ Ikkaku responded with a savage grin, "Challenge accepted, but I'll be the one that's kicking your ass!"_

_ Tatsuki laughed and turned, walking home waving over her shoulder "See ya."_

Ikkaku grinned; he couldn't wait until their match. He would show her that he was not Ichigo and would not be beaten so easily. They had set the date a couple of hours ago by phone, so it was set in stone so to speak. They would face off on July 14th, two weeks from now. Tatsuki/Ikkaku grinned savagely, 'I can't wait to kick his/her ass!"


	2. Match

Are you ready for chapter 2? Well, ready or not, here it is!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach. I only wish I did. At least I can dream. The plot's all mine though.

Key:

_Flashback_

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

><p>Match<p>

Matsumoto sat in the tub in Orihime's bathroom. Smiling to herself she hummed. Things had gone better today than she would have ever dreamed. When Matsumoto had met Tatsuki her first thought was that she would fit the bill of the kind of girl that Ikkaku would like. Then it hit her, _really_ hit her, Tatsuki really did fit the bill. Then it was all a matter of setting up a plan for them to meet, then, she was sure things would fall out smoothly from there.

Matsumoto smiled to herself again, silently patting herself on the back. She had always thought that Ikkaku needed somebody, and that feeling hadn't changed over the years. There were people who could live through life on their own, but Ikkaku was not one of them.

Things at the mall had gone better than planned. She had watched out of the corner of her eye as they sized each other up when they met in front of the mall. She saw what they themselves didn't, the body language that said they liked what they saw. Matsumoto hadn't been surprised when Tatsuki showed up dressed a little better than she usually was in the summer, she knew Tatsuki was avoiding getting a new wardrobe like the last time Matsumoto had joined one of their trips to the mall. What _had_ been a surprise was when Tatsuki decided to help Ikkaku get a new outfit, saying that the one he was wearing didn't fit right.

What had been the most surprising and pleasing find was that they had spent the entire afternoon sitting together on the same bench, talking. The last part shocked her, she had been checking on them periodically, and each time she checked up on them, they were talking, Matsumoto hadn't even know that Ikkaku had that much air in him, or words for that matter.

Matsumoto smiled once again, everything was going to plan, even faster than she had hoped, they had already set a date to meet again, yes it was for a match, but the point was that they were going to meet up again and they had planned it out all on their own.

* * *

><p>Tatsuki woke with a savage grin on her face, turning she looked at the calendar pinned up on the wall by her bed:<p>

July 16th.

The time had come; glancing at her clock as she got dressed she noted the time. Her match with Ikkaku was at 11 and it was currently 7, she had 4 hours to prepare.

Tatsuki went downstairs and ate a large breakfast with plenty of protein; she would need the energy for the match. After she finished eating she continued through her morning routine, shower, brush teeth, brush hair, make bed, and complete summer homework. At 9:30 she began her warm-up exercises.

At 10:30, charged with excitement, Tatsuki left for the location of their match, Urahara's basement.

* * *

><p>Ikkaku woke with a grin, today was the day of the match. He looked out the window and saw that the sun was just coming over the horizon, '7 huh? Well better get ready. Match's at 11.'<p>

Ikkaku proceeded with his morning routine, eat, brush teeth, shave and polish head, and do paperwork. At about 9:00 he began his warm-up exercises. At 10:00 he left for Urahara's shop, or rather Urahara's basement.

* * *

><p>Tatsuki arrived 15 minutes before 11. Sitting on a rock she thought back to the previous times she had been here, which amounted to the grand total of two. The first time she had been here, both she and Keigo had been invited in because of what they had seen. Urahara, however, did not fill in any blanks, just gave them more questions they wanted answers to. It might have been his plan to keep them out of whatever was happening until it was resolved, encourage them to leave well enough alone and get on with their lives, or to encourage them to investigate and find the answers on their own. Tatsuki took the third option and filled in the blanks herself.<p>

The second time she had been here was when the Winter War, as the shinigami were calling it, at least according to Ikkaku, had just finished. Urahara had called her here to find out how much she really knew. He smiled when he figured out how much she knew, giving her the distinct impression that the first time she had been here was to plant the seed of curiosity and have her investigate it herself.

This was the third time she was here and it was not because of Urahara she was here, it was because of Ikkaku.

Suddenly there was a thump and a clack to her right, as if a door was opening, and when she looked over, sure enough, there was a door opening and she watched as Ikkaku walked through, her pulse speeding up, in anticipation of the match about to commence she was sure.

* * *

><p>Ikkaku came through the gate about 5 minutes before 11 to find Tatsuki already there, sitting and waiting for him to arrive. Taking off his top, Ikkaku grinned. Tatsuki stood up sharing his grin, and returning it to him.<p>

Urahara appeared at this point, "I am going to referee this match! The first one to draw blood wins! Oh, but I have to remind you, this is hand to hand combat only!"

'Only Urahara could manage to sound that cheerful before a fight." Ikkaku/Tatsuki thought.

Winking, Urahara flicked his fan, "Begin!"

Ikkaku took off with a burst of speed, Tatsuki matching his speed perfectly. Ikkaku grinned wider, 'I wonder if she can keep up this pace for very long? I hope she can, it would be no fun otherwise.'

After about ten minutes of trading blows they had gotten the other's measure. By the time 1 came around, however, they were still at an impasse. However, Tatsuki couldn't handle the pace any longer.

She had considered herself to be quite patient and polite, going at his pace, thinking he was going to change his pace, but apparently this was his top speed, too bad. Tatsuki launched into a faster pace with a flurry of kicks. She dodged each and every one of his counters and sped in with a punch to his gut causing him to double over for a fraction of a second. Tatsuki used that time to strike and took him down with a kick to his back, drawing blood as his face hit the ground.

"Tatsuki Wins!" was the cry from the referee, aka Urahara. Bending down Tatsuki offered Ikkaku a hand up. He took it slapped her on the back, "That's the first time I've been beaten by anyone other than Ichigo or my Taicho."

"Well I'm glad I was able to assist in the effort to keep you humble."

They grinned at each other, glorying in the post-match adrenaline rush. As the rush faded they began to settle down, and they finally noticed just what they were doing, standing in the middle of a large expanse of rocks and grinning at each other like a couple of idiots. They burst out laughing and sat down on a rock.

Tatsuki then noticed that Ikkaku had a slightly different feel about him from the last time they had met, as if he had been dampened somehow the last time. Tatsuki commented on it and Ikkaku laughed, "That was because I was in a gigai, so my presence wasn't as strong in the spirit world, but living people could see me."

"That makes sense, I think. So the outfit that your wearing is the general issue shinigami uniform I'm guessing."

"You would be guessing correctly. Damn it, now I want another battle."

Tatsuki's eyes gleamed, "You want to go again?"

"Hell yes!"

They fought three more times gaining various degrees of injuries, but they all ended with the same result, Tatsuki winning. The thing that they liked most about the three battles following the first one was that there was no referee.

By the time they had finished with their last fight, it was 5 O'clock. Grinning, Tatsuki invited him over to her house for the night. Ikkaku accepted, he really didn't feel like returning to Soul Society right then.

* * *

><p>Matsumoto watched the whole thing from her hiding place in Urahara's basement, silently cheering every time Tatsuki won, which was every time. Matsumoto nearly fell out of her hiding place when Tatsuki invited Ikkaku to her house for the night; things were going so smoothly it was scary. What was even scarier was just how <em>fast<em> things were moving. She hadn't expected them to get along so well so quickly. It was like watching a rollercoaster moving at top downhill speed, uphill.

* * *

><p>What Matsumoto didn't realize was that Tatsuki was very good at analyzing herself and her emotions. After eating dinner, while her parents entertained Ikkaku, she sat in her room analyzing the fights and her emotions before, during, and after the fights. She had been feeling as if something was amiss about half-way through the first fight, but she hadn't had time to analyze just what felt amiss until now. Looking at her bodies reactions to Ikkaku's presence, especially when he walked through that door, they called it a Senkai gate she remembered. Looking at it calmly and objectively she realized that her heartbeat should not have gone up that much just because of the anticipation for the fight, so there was another reason.<p>

She considered Ikkaku, 'Yes.' She admitted to herself, 'I do find him very pleasing to the eyes, especially topless, but I feel like there's more to it, but what is it? I don't understand this. Well, if there is anyone who can understand others emotions and help them sort their feelings out, it Orihime. I'll go see her tomorrow.'

That sorted out, she went back into the family room where her parents and Ikkaku were to sort out sleeping arrangements, and to while away the rest of the evening.

* * *

><p>Ikkaku stared at the ceiling as he was lying on the fold out couch that was his bed for the night. What was it? He had felt his pulse speed up when he walked through the gate to see her waiting there for him. At that moment he had thought it was just the thrill of anticipation. But looking back he saw that the thrill of anticipation wouldn't have raised his pulse <em>that<em> high. Something was up and he had no idea what it was. Yes, he found her to be physically attractive, but he had a feeling that wasn't the only reason. Sighing he gave up on that train of thought and settled down to sleep thinking, 'I'll just talk to Matsumoto about in the morning. She's better at this emotional stuff anyway.'

* * *

><p>Matsumoto stared into the glass of wine that she was holding. Orihime had already gone to bed so she felt she was safe in drinking it.<p>

Matsumoto had been watching Ikkaku and Tatsuki throughout the evening. She had watched as Tatsuki had retreated to her room, leaving her parents to entertain Ikkaku, to try and sort out what she had been feeling. Matsumoto watched Tatsuki as she stood up to leave her room, mumbling about seeing Orihime tomorrow in order to sort everything out.

Later she watched Ikkaku struggle with very similar thoughts as he lay awake staring at the ceiling. When he rolled over and finally settled down to sleep, she had a strong feeling that he would be seeking her out tomorrow so that he could get this problem sorted out and move on with his life.

Matsumoto smiled to herself. Things were going better that she planned. She had planned to have them together by Christmas, but at the rate they were going, they would be together by the end of summer break, if not by the end of this week, which at this point was a distinct possibility.


End file.
